VATICAN Vicar of Arabia: Pope’s trip to Bahrain is a ‘sign’ for Shiite Islam

For Bishop Hinder, the November trip follows the same route that began in Abu Dhabi and led to Kazakhstan. A “positive strategy” of rapprochement with the “different currents” of the Muslim faith and an invitation to continue along the “path” of dialogue and encounter. For the parish priest of the Church of the Sacred Heart in Manama, it is a “rare opportunity” to be confirmed in the faith.

Manama () – The apostolic trip of Pope Francis to Bahrain is part of an itinerary that has its own “logic” and has previously touched “Abu Dhabi, Morocco, Iraq and more recently Kazakhstan”. This decision shows that “in the mind of the pontiff there is a positive strategy of approaching the various internal currents of Islam”, to try to revitalize or establish “a dialogue with the vast Muslim world”, explains Msgr. Paul Hinder, apostolic administrator of the Northern Arabia (Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain).

In 2019, as vicar of South Arabia, Bishop Hinder received the pontiff in Abu Dhabi, on his first historic visit to the Gulf. “The election of Bahrain among the countries of the region – he adds – is also a strong signal for the Shiite universe” which is the majority in the kingdom (and in some cases persecuted), although the government is firmly in the hands of a Sunni monarchy. .

The Pope will visit Bahrain from November 3 to 6 next. The apostolic journey includes a public mass at the National Stadium and a speech at the “Bahrain Forum for Dialogue: East and West for Human Coexistence”, as well as visits and meetings in Awali and Manama. In the Arab country there are more than 80,000 Catholics out of a total of 1.4 million inhabitants (about 240,000 foreigners), the vast majority of whom are immigrants from the Indian subcontinent and the Philippines. In the interior there is also an autochthonous Christian population, something very rare in the Gulf countries: about a thousand faithful, mostly Arab-Catholic Christians, who emigrated from other Middle Eastern countries to the kingdom between 1930 and 1950, and who Today they are full citizens.

“The visit to Bahrain was planned and requested by the king himself, who has been working for a long time to receive the Pope”, continues Msgr. Hinder. But it is also an opportunity “to send a new signal to the Muslim world with the intervention in the Forum”, although the details regarding the meeting “are still not many”.

“And it is also a strong gesture towards the Catholics themselves – the vicar points out -, a way of telling them that they are not forgotten, in the face of a feeling of abandonment that sometimes arises in our communities”. In this sense, “seeing that the Pope stays for three days is a strong gesture and a beautiful opportunity.”

Regarding the differences with Abu Dhabi in February 2019, Bishop Hinder affirms: “It is an invitation not to give up, it means that we are still on the way, although perhaps this path, after the Emirates, seemed to have become a little slower. Precisely what the Pope wants is to encourage us, keeping a profoundly realistic look. Without forgetting the multiple realities and problems that afflict the world, from Africa to Ukraine, Pope Francis “knows that, in a certain way, the future is decided in the East”.

Comparing it with the Southern Vicariate (Emirates, Yemen and Oman), the Northern Vicariate “is more complicated, among other things because there is no central reality like that of the Emirates which, with its nine parishes, constitutes a pole of aggregation. In Qatar there is only one parish, the same as in Bahrain, in Kuwait there are four but there are only two churches and then there is the Saudi reality. Here -concludes Archbishop Hinder- even for the bishop it is more difficult to be close to a community made up of different countries and characteristics”.

Fr. Xavier Marian D’Souza, pastor for five years at the Church of the Sacred Heart, in Manama, also expresses his enthusiasm and satisfaction. He considers the visit “a once-in-a-lifetime event for Catholics in the kingdom and for the entire Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Arabia.” “Something -he adds- that we would never have imagined or dreamed of. I cannot even find the words to describe the feelings that our community is experiencing since the announcement was made.” The faithful of the country and of the other countries of the vicariate “are impatient to receive the Pope”, because “it gives them a rare opportunity to be confirmed in their faith.

“In Bahrain – the priest continues – the first church in the Gulf was built, which was inaugurated in 1939. There are three Catholic churches in the kingdom and one of them is the Cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia, the largest church in the Persian Gulf” . Lastly, Fr. Xavier wants to express his gratitude to the authorities for allowing this important visit for all Christians. “Our community in Bahrain – he concludes – is very grateful to King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa for having invited the Pope” and “we also thank the government for the commitment and collaboration they have shown in planning the visit and the itinerary” of the pontiff.